Access providers, such as those companies that provide access to the Internet or World Wide Web, seek data and communication channels, such as power line channels to deliver content into homes. At the same time, home or personal local networking is emerging as an independent and stand-alone market where the in-home network is owned, deployed, and operated by the home dweller.
In the case of networks using transmission channels such as power lines, the access network is typically operated by the access/service provider, and the in-home network is operated by the end consumer. Considering that these two networks transmit on a common medium, these networks interfere with each other and compete for bandwidth resources. This coexistence problem may be addressed presently in one of two ways: (a) Use of filters to isolate the access network from the in-home network, i.e., typically for interference reduction and provide for a sharing of the channel capacity; and (b) Dividing the total available frequency spectrum into orthogonal components for the access and in-home networks. Filters require additional costs and often involve user installation/management responsibilities. Frequency spectrum division typically has some of the spectrum left unused when only the Access or In-Home network is operating.